Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday announced that the ongoing Movement Control Order (MCO) period in the country will be extended to April 14,

He said the extension of the MCO period, which was earlier scheduled till March 31st, was announced early to enable the people to be prepared.

“Those who are currently at their hometown need not rush back to Kuala Lumpur this weekend. Stay at your hometown and don’t go anywhere,” he said in his special address carried live on television networks Wednesday.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China has begun buying U.S. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) again after a hiatus of nearly 20 months as Beijing waived punitive tariffs to boost imports of U.S. goods as part of the Sino-U.S. Phase 1 trade deal, industry sources said.

Importers have rushed to apply for waivers for the 25% tariff to buy the fuel, a by-product from U.S. shale gas production, after Beijing started granting exemptions this month for nearly 700 U.S. goods.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Communist guerrillas in the Philippines said Wednesday they would observe a cease-fire in compliance with the U.N. chief’s call for a global halt in armed clashes during the coronavirus pandemic.

New People’s Army guerrillas have been ordered to stop assaults and shift to a defensive position from Thursday to April 15, the Communist Party of the Philippines said in a statement.

Malaysia (AP) --- Malaysia’s medical glove factories, which make most of the world’s critical hand protection, are operating at half capacity just when they’re most needed, The Associated Press has learned.

Health care workers snap gloves on as the first line of protection against catching COVID-19 from patients, and they’re crucial to protecting patients as well. But medical-grade glove supplies are running low globally, even as more feverish, sweating and coughing patients arrive in hospitals by the day.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced in Asia on Wednesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House neared a deal on injecting nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 5.3%, while Hong Kong added 3% and Sydney climbed 3.6%. Markets across Asia were all up more than 2%.

24 March 2020; AFP: China announced Tuesday an end to travel curbs at the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, as governments around the world tightened lockdowns in a desperate effort to slow the spread of the deadly disease.

Hubei, where the novel coronavirus emerged late last year, will allow healthy residents to leave the province from midnight, officials said, two months after they were ordered to stay indoors.

"We are celebrating today," a female doctor surnamed Wu told AFP.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will be in an emergency mode from March 26 for a month to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told a news conference on Tuesday.

The emergency decree will mean the prime minister will have the executive power to declare further measures to contain the virus, including giving extra authority to officials and allowing the setting up of checkpoints to reduce people movements, Prayuth said.

He said details of the measures will be announced later.

NEW DELHI, March 24 (NNN-BERNAMA) — A new batch of 189 stranded Malaysians flew back home from India on a special AirAsia flight on Tuesday.

They left from Chennai for Kuala Lumpur in the early hours as part of the ongoing evacuation of Malaysian citizens stuck in India due to the suspension of air travel following the coronavirus outbreak.

Another chartered AirAsia flight planned from Tiruchirappalli could not receive Indian approval “due to unforeseen circumstances,” said K. Saravanan, consul general of Malaysia in Chennai.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Bursa Malaysia continued its upward momentum at mid-afternoon today on bargain hunting activities as well as global economic optimism over massive initiatives to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Key index, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 3.37 per cent or 42.47 points higher to 1,302.35 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,259.88.

The market traded in a tight range of 1,271.34 to 1,296.17 throughout the morning session. 

HUBEI, Mar 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Vice-Premier, Sun Chunlan, asked for the orderly, safe and smooth withdrawal of the medical staff supporting virus-hit Hubei province.

Leading a central government group, to guide the epidemic control work in Hubei, Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks while seeing off the medics departing Hubei, at a former temporary hospital in Wuhan, capital city of the province.